The data centre facility

We rent a space at the Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS (LMD) for data centre capacity for the national storage system NIRD and future national supercomputers. The Lefdal Mine Datacenter is located inside a disused mine in West Norway, making it a perfect location for a safe and secure establishment for the national e-infrastructure systems. LMD mainly uses regional partners and vendors, and thus contributes extensively to local business in West Norway.

Energy saving and heat recovery are actively being worked on in the e-infrastructure solutions that we coordinate. In the case of new acquisitions, we give particular emphasis to environmental considerations. Green energy goes into the systems and we source cooling water from the fjord.

Mine turned data centre

LMD uses the old Lefdal mine facilities located between Måløy and Nordfjordeid in Vestland county. This provides very high general and physical security for the computer systems placed there. The mine was previously used for the extraction of olivine.

The first Sigma2 system to enter the mining hall was the new national storage system NIRD (National Infrastructure for Research Data), which was installed in 2022. The first supercomputer is expected to be installed at the data centre in 2024. The existing national e-infrastructure systems are located at our partner universities and will remain there until they go out of service. 

Boosting local business

High-performance computer systems such as national supercomputers generate a lot of excess heat as the processors almost always reach 100% utilisation, day and night. The surplus energy provides considerable heat and requires cooling to avoid overheating. Data centres such as LMD, located close to a fjord, have a low energy cost for cooling because cold water can be taken from the fjord and the return water can be reused.

LMD has signed an agreement with Sjømatstaden, which operates marine food production nearby and will use return water from the data centre in its production.

In this example, return water from other data centre customers is used to "feed" Sigma2's facilities, which can handle high water temperatures. Thus, return water will have an even higher recycling value.

The old mine system is gigantic and extends over 120,000 square meters into the mountain, spread over many levels.